Free Body Switchers from Outer Space by R.L. Stine Page A

then slid the lid sideways.
    Inside was a gray-green bug with a million legs. It started oozing up over the side of the box.
    â€œTake this sklix,” Chad-Two said.
    I grabbed the bug and ate it. It tasted sour and crunchy, and it fluttered in my mouth. I didn’t care.
    â€œEww!” Pepper yelped. “You ate a bug?!”
    I started feeling better right away! Oh, man! I was back in my body again, and everything was all right! I was so happy I felt as if I could fly!
    I got to my feet. I wiped sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. Everything about being in my own body felt a little skewed and sideways, but I didn’t care. I could adjust! I took some deep breaths.
    Then I grabbed Pepper’s hand and headed for the door.
    I thumbed the green touch pad.
    Nothing happened!
    Of course. I didn’t have Chad-One’s fingerprints anymore! Chad-One had said the locks were keyed to specific people!
    I pointed at the touch pad. “Can we borrow your fingers? Just for a minute?” I smiled.
    â€œSorry. Not possible,” Chad-Two said. He strode across the room and stood directly in front of me.
    â€œWh-wh-why not?” I stammered.
    â€œI can’t let you two leave,” Chad-Two informed us. “You know too much!”

18

    â€œW hat do you mean? We don’t know anything!” I said. “I don’t know what planet you’re from or what you’re doing here!”
    Chad-Two shook his head. “You know we were here, and that’s enough.”
    â€œI don’t know what your real bodies look like! I don’t know where you’re going! We won’t tell anybody! I promise!”
    â€œWho would believe us, anyway?” Pepper added.
    â€œSorry. We have a policy about this,” Chad-Two said.
    Chad-One came over and stood next to him. Chad-One had a nasty grin. He looked over at the shink.
    They were going to shink us like the rat?
    No! I couldn’t let that happen.
    My heart pounded in my ears. My palms felt sweaty.
    I shoved my hands in my pockets.
    The merister and the lifter were still there! Right where I put them before Chad and I switched back!
    I pulled out the merister and tapped the touch pad to make it bigger. It grew until it was just like the ray gun Chad-Two had used to net the rat!
    I didn’t know if it would work on anything as big as a person, but it was better than nothing!
    I turned toward the two Chads and tapped the pad that fired the merister.
    Web shot out!
    But I had forgotten I was Will! I aimed for the Chads, but I stumbled over the leg of a piece of equipment as I headed for them!
    The web shot out, all right. But it didn’t come anywhere near the two Chads! Instead, it covered the touch-pad console that ran the changing chambers!
    Chad-One snickered. “Nice shot.”
    Chad-Two walked right up to me and grabbed the merister out of my hand. “Come on, Will. The shink doesn’t hurt.”
    â€œWhat’s a shink?” Pepper demanded.
    â€œThey shinked me a couple of body switches ago when I was having discipline problems,” Chad explained. “Every time I caused trouble, they’d shinkme. You don’t really notice anything when you’re in the small state. They put the setting on reversible, so I had one of those black touch pads they could tap bigger or smaller. I’ll do that for you, too. Maybe I can grow you later and let you loose on some other planet.”
    â€œWhat’s a shink?” Pepper screamed.
    â€œYou’ll find out soon enough,” Chad-Two said, pushing me and Pepper toward the yellow circle on the floor.
    Just then the shed door whooshed open, and Mom and Dad came in. “Oh, good, you’re both here,” Mom said. “It’s time for the body switch.”
    Then she noticed me and Pepper. “Who are these humans? What are they doing here? This is going to throw off our schedule!”
    â€œI was just going to shink